Showtime Rings In New Year With Malignaggi vs. Ngoudjo

Showtime Championship Boxing will set the stage for another fantastic year of world-class boxing when flashy, charismatic Paulie “The Magic Man” Malignaggi defends his International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior welterweight title against mandatory challenger and IBF No. 1 contender, Herman “The Black Panther” Ngoudjo, on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008, live on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).

With just two losses between them, the boxer versus puncher matchup between Malignaggi (23-1, 5 KOs) and Ngoudjo (16-1, 9 KOs ) figures to be an exciting and competitive opener to the 2008 season.

The colorful, crowd-pleasing Malignaggi, of Brooklyn , N.Y. , will make the first defense of the 140-pound belt he won with a lopsided 12-round decision over Lovemore N’dou on June 16, 2007.

“I am looking to start the New Year off right with a win over a tough competitor in Ngoudjo,” Malignaggi said. “I want to fight the best competition and prove that there is no one better than Paulie Malignaggi in the junior welterweight division.”

The once-beaten champion’s only blemish came on a hard-fought 12-round decision to undefeated World Boxing Organization (WBO) titleholder Miguel Cotto on June 10, 2006. One year later, the Italian-American got his next title shot and impressively outpointed N’dou.

“I know I have to train through the holidays and that’s always tough, but I plan on making up for it by making Herman Ngoudjo my own personal Christmas tree and lighting him up on Jan. 5,” the speedy, slick-boxing Malignaggi said.

While Malignaggi, who is known for possessing one of the finest jabs in the business, is confident of retaining his title, Ngoudjo plans on dropping him like the New Year’s ball in Times Square .

“On Jan. 5, I will fulfill my dream to become the first world champion ever born in Cameroon ,” said the determined Ngoudjo, now a Canadian citizen fighting out of Montreal . “Malignaggi can run all over the ring, but he can’t hide. He has no respect for me, but after our fight he will be begging me for a rematch.”

Ngoudjo (pronounced “En-Goo-Jo’’), who represented Cameroon at the 2000 Olympic Games, has fought a series of elimination fights to earn his first world title shot.

“I have done everything asked,” Ngoudjo said. “I have dealt with adversity and I have been patient, but my time is now. I am very hungry. ‘The Magic Man’ is going to disappear.”

Ngoudjo suffered his lone loss on a controversial 12-round split decision on Jan. 20, 2007 to Jose Luis Castillo in what many figured would be a keep-busy fight for the former world champion. It was anything but, however, and Castillo was fortunate to come away the narrow win by scores of 115-113 twice and 113-115.

“The people know who the real winner of that fight was,” Ngoudjo said.

In his last outing, Ngoudjo came up on the right side of a divided decision, outpointing hard-hitting former world champion Randall Bailey in an IBF eliminator by the scores of 115-112, 114-112 and 112-115 on June 8, 2007.

The 12-round bout will take place one night after the Showtime boxing 2008 season officially begins with a ShoBox: The New Generation doubleheader (11 p.m. ET/PT) featuring the undefeated Peterson brothers, Anthony (25-0, 18 KOs) and Lamont (23-0, 11 KOs).

Saturday’s world title fight is promoted by DiBella Entertainment in association with Groupe Yvon Michel and will take place at Bally’s Main Ballroom at Atlantic City, N.J. Tickets priced at $250 and $125 are on sale and can be purchased at the Bally’s Box Office, by calling DiBella Entertainment at (212) 947-2577, Ticketmaster at (800) 736-1420 or by visiting www.ticketmaster.com.

SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING announcers Steve Albert and Al Bernstein will call the action from ringside with Jim Gray serving as roving reporter. The executive producer of SHOWTIME Sports telecasts is David Dinkins Jr., with Bob Dunphy directing.

For more information on SHOWTIME Sports, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video, photo galleries and complete telecast information, please visit our website http://www.SHO.com/Sports.